SANTA ANA – A young Santa Ana woman apologized moments before she was sentenced to 15-years-to-life Friday for killing a popular ice hockey player in an early morning crash in La Habra more than a year ago in which her alcohol level was three times the legal limit.

Brittany Deanne Schuetz, 21, who had previously been convicted of drunken driving in 2007, was found guilty of killing 26-year-old April Junhee Whang in the Feb. 1, 2009, crash in La Habra.

April Whang's family and friends – wearing black T-shirts with April's name and hockey number – filled the courtroom gallery.

During an emotional victim-impact statement April Whang's younger sister told the court she was a great friend, a great daughter and an even greater sister.

"I wake up everyday so sure that it was all a horrible dream but shortly after I succumb to a numbness that only comes when I realize that April really is gone," Kimberly Whang said.

April Whang's boyfriend said he thinks of her – his soul mate –– every day.

"There will never be another April. Never be a second chance. I'll miss her all my life."

"I'm sorry. I know no amount of words is going to bring April back...I'm sorry for my selfishness," Schuetz said as she sobbed.

Whang's family cried as Schuetz looked at them and repeated she was sorry.

"It's such a mix of emotions. I'm angry obviously, but I feel sorry for her too," Kimberly Whang said. "She not only ruined our lives, our sister's life, but her own life."

During the trial, witnesses testified that Schuetz consumed several drinks at a party in Sherman Oaks on Jan. 31, 2009, and was driven by her friends to Whittier. Schuetz then got behind the wheel of her Mazda to drive home, brushing off her friends' pleas that she was in no condition to drive.

Shortly after midnight, Schuetz sped through the intersection at Beach Boulevard and Imperial Highway against a red light and slammed into an Acura Integra driven by Whang who was driving through on a green light. The impact of the crash knocked Whang from the driver's seat to the cargo area of her 2004 Acura Integra.

When La Habra police arrived, they found Schuetz sitting in the driver's seat of her car with a strong odor of alcohol on her breath, bloodshot and watery eyes, and unable to answer basic questions.

Tests taken later revealed that she had a blood-alcohol level of 0.24 percent - three times the legal limit, Deputy District Attorney Susan Price said.

Schuetz attended and completed alcohol awareness classes after a 2007 drunken-driving conviction, where she was warned about the dangers of drinking and driving, Price added.

In February, Schuetz was convicted of second-degree murder under the legal theory that she knew drinking and driving was dangerous to life – because of a prior drunken driving conviction –– but did it anyway.

Defense attorney Dave Dziejowski called the collision an enormous tragedy for both the victim and his client.

He said that Schuetz had made plans earlier in the evening for someone else to drive her home, but those plans fell through and she decided to drive herself. Dziejowski said Schuetz did not have a conscious disregard of life when she got behind the wheel.

Whang, an ice hockey player and former figure skater, died at the scene –– about a mile from her home in Fullerton –– due to multiple traumatic injuries. She worked as a store manager at The Rinks Anaheim Ice.

"This is one step closer to moving on," Kimberly Whang said after the sentencing.

Following the sentencing, Schuetz family embraced outside the courtroom.

"We are just praying for them and we are sorry," said Schuetz' mother, Janice LaChance.

The woman should at least be given the option of having white children instead of a jail sentence.

But now she may never have kids.

Why exactly would I want this woman to have children. She is obviously not even capable of caring for herself. This woman should be punished for her recklessness, not rewarded by being allowed to procreate.

I would much rather like to see quality rather than quantity in our future generations. People like this are no better than the races that we seek to remove ourselves from. So why would we encourage people with these destructive tendencies to continue our race?